The FinTech Year in Stories: July

By Louis Thompsett

December 30, 2024

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We look at the articles that made the news in fintech in 2024. Today, it is July…

E-Invoicing: Boosting Compliance, Efficiency, and Security

In a recent interview with Fintech Magazine, Alex Baulf, VP of Global Tax at Avalara, shared his insights on the power of e-invoicing.

Baulf comments: “E-invoicing is a way of creating and exchanging structured and machine-readable data between two trading partners - a supplier and its buyer. An e-invoice allows companies to share the exact same information as a traditional paper invoice with their supplier’s ERP systems, without needing to create, print or post physical paper documents or scan them as PDFs. This gets rid of the need for manual data entry, leading to efficiency cost savings.”

E-invoicing is gaining momentum as governments worldwide seek to improve tax law enforcement and VAT collection.

Baulf notes: “In the last three years, governments have looked for better ways to enforce tax laws and collect VAT. Keen to ensure transparency and modernise indirect tax reporting and controls, more and more jurisdictions have begun to mandate the use of e-invoicing for day-to-day business activities.”

Even in regions where e-invoicing is not yet mandatory, businesses are increasingly adopting this technology. “However, even in unmandated countries, businesses are increasingly turning to e-invoicing, as it is proven to reduce processing costs. Replacing the need for paper form invoicing with a structured, digital document speeds up the entire process. It also means that invoices can be handled and archived more efficiently.

"In fact, businesses can save up to 70% in material and printing, postage and archiving costs, compared to PDF and paper processing,” Baulf elaborates. The cost-saving benefits are clear, making e-invoicing an attractive option for companies looking to streamline operations.

The advantages of e-invoicing goes beyond cost savings to impacting business operations: “E-invoicing’s immediate information transfer cut processing times; businesses can expect to receive payments faster, leading to quicker and more effective operations.

"With e-invoicing, there is no need to manually enter data into systems for processing, saving businesses from painstaking, and often expensive, human errors. E-invoices will not sit indefinitely in someone’s email or get lost in the mail. When the information is in a digital format, legible by systems, businesses benefit from significant savings in human resources and accounting accuracy. This reduction in discrepancies is a game changer for business relations.”

Money20/20 Europe Exclusive Video: IBM on Gen AI in Finserv

The implementation, opportunities, and challenges of generative AI in the financial services industry are hot topics across all industries. With rapid advancements and growing interest, staying ahead of the curve in AI adoption is essential.

IBM, a global leader in technology and consulting services, have shared their insights on generative AI with FinTech Magazine, discussing strategic priorities, regulatory compliance and talent acquisition challenges facing the industry today.

In this exclusive interview, we spoke with John Duigenan, Global CTO of Financial Services, and Shanker Ramamurthy, Global Managing Partner of Banking and Finance at IBM, about the findings of their recent survey on GenAI implementation.

IBM's recent survey involves 2,500 CEOs, with over 300 from the banking sector and has some particularly noteworthy findings.

Shanker Ramamurthy comments: "The survey has had some pretty interesting findings. 60% of the CEOs talked about generative AI as a strategic priority for them at an enterprise level."

He adds: "The reason this statistic is particularly interesting is that we recently released another study showing that 80% of banks are implementing generative AI on an enterprise scale, while another 80% are only conducting pilots and proof-of-concept projects.

"From our most recent survey, we found that at least 60% of banks plan to address generative AI on an enterprise scale through the rest of this year and into 2025. This is significant and aligns closely with what we and IBMC see as the potential for generative AI."